Issue 03, Number 7 - Friday 21 February 2003

Australia’s peak GP representative body, the AMA Council of General Practice, met on Sunday 16 February. Councillors expressed grave concern about the declining numbers of GPs as a consequence of a relative fall in remuneration, increased stress and worsening general working conditions, particularly among GPs in outer urban and rural areas. The council endorsed a number of AMA initiatives designed to address the GP shortage including lifting patient rebates, provision of a patient contribution at the point of service in conjunction with electronic billing and an increase in medical school and GP training places. The Council warned that no mandatory or non-mandatory pressure should be applied to GPs to bulk bill. Schemes that are intended to put pressure on GPs or lock them into bulk billing if they wish to receive, for example, PIP payments, will be a strong counter-incentive to workforce participation and will accelerate the decision to retire from practice for many GPs.

The AMA GP Department had a meeting with Centrelink officials this week (19 February) on the complexity of the agency’s medical certificate and treating doctor form. Two GPs, Dr David Monash and Dr Wayne McDonald, attended the meeting and told the Centrelink representatives about the difficulties being experienced on the ground. Centrelink said they are willing to work on reducing the time and effort spent by GPs filling out the forms. The AMA will continue to meet with Centrelink until a solution is reached. If you have any feedback on how the forms could be improved, email Kristen at kconnell@ama.com.au. Centrelink has also begun a program to better educate GPs on using the forms. Centrelink Division Liaison Officers should shortly begin work around Australia. The agency is working on an electronic version of the forms that is compatible with all medical software. In conjunction with this program, the AMA will lobby the Federal Government and Department of Family and Community Services for remuneration for the time GPs spend on the Centrelink forms. The new Productivity Commission report on red tape shows the forms cost GPs a significant amount of time and money. The AMA will use this evidence to further support its demands that Centrelink pay fully for the work it requests of GPs.

The AMA has rejected a AIHW claim that Australia’s medical workforce increased by over 6% between 1995 and 1999. AIHW was commenting on its new report on the Medical Labour Force 1999. The report’s own figures show there was actually about a 4% decrease in full time equivalent practitioners during that period. AMA President, Dr Kerryn Phelps said: "The fact is that Australia does not have enough doctors. The problem is not simply about the number of doctors registered in Australia, it is more to do with what these doctors are doing with their time. For a whole range of reasons, there is less face-to-face consultation time. Today we are training too few doctors and the gloss has gone off medicine as a career. After ten or more years of training, doctors are graduating into a profession with high practice costs, high medical indemnity costs and mountains of red tape. The desire to practise medicine is being swamped by bureaucracy."

AMA President Dr Kerryn Phelps will address Federal MPs and Senators on 6 March at the annual Parliamentary Breakfast. This is a major opportunity to educate Parliamentarians on medical issues. Members are encouraged to write to their local MP and urge them to attend this important event. A basic letter outline is available from Kristen at kconnell@ama.com.au.

Your Federal AMA General Practice and eHealth team is Prue Power (Director), Julia Nesbitt, Kristen Connell and Bethany Chadwick